As a Quaker Christian
community, we at Spring Friends Meeting remember
Jesus’ first public words. In the Nazareth
synagogue (Luke 4), he said he was sent to
preach good news to the poor, deliverance to the
captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and
liberty to those who are oppressed.

We also recall his
declaration that those who welcomed the stranger
were in fact welcoming him (Matthew 25).
At Spring Friends Meeting, we feel called
to this same mission and seek to do our small
best, as way opens. As part of that effort, we
now express our deep distress at the recent
passage by the North Carolina legislature of
what is called HB2.

This legislation
is much more extensive in scope and insidious
in intent than the widely publicized restroom
provision.

House
Bill 2 specifically omits sexual orientation
as a status that can be protected from
discrimination.

It
specifically bans municipalities and other
local governments from enacting
locally-approved legislation such as a higher
minimum wage; anti-discrimination for persons
who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender; safe-havens for undocumented
immigrants or any measure which the State
deems contradictory to its arbitrary will.

The
law also removes the ability for persons to
use state courts for pursuing redress for
discrimination.

We acknowledge the fear that has induced many
to support the law solely on the basis of its
bathroom provision– and likely without
knowledge of the bill’s other clauses.
We believe this fear has been used to
promote this unjust provision as well as a
broader range of injustices through this law.

We are even more dismayed
and saddened that this action is supported by
some in the name of Christianity and what they
call “religious liberty.”

Quakers should know about
and cherish religious liberty. Early members of
the Religious Society of Friends suffered and
struggled peaceably for decades to gain the
liberty to meet, worship, and witness openly and
faithfully– and even to marry. Friends in North
Carolina suffered and were persecuted for their
association with the Underground Railroad and
their peaceful resistance to the Civil War.

And since its 1650s
origins, the Quaker struggle for liberty has
been meant to include others, not only those of
their own religious society. From the beginning,
this sought-after religious liberty included
women, formerly silenced. Within a century it
expanded to call for liberty of the enslaved.

In our time, the Spring
Meeting community has been led to welcome those
of diverse backgrounds, of once-despised and
excluded orientation and presentation, and to
urge this liberty be extended to all with the
only criteria being that an individual be an
earnest seeker of Truth, Peace, and spiritual
harmony. We are grateful that many others
are following a similar path.

To our mind, the spirit of
HB2 is contrary to this historic Quaker
narrative of witness. It makes a mockery of the
Apostle Paul’s forceful declaration that “where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2
Corinthians 3:17)

In the face of this effort
to roll back crucial achievements of Christian
and American liberty, we appeal to those who
supported and voted for this law to re-examine
their consciences and act to repeal it.

We urge Friends and others,
of all faiths and of none, to raise their voices
for genuine liberty and bring an end to such
needless, oppressive legislation, here in North
Carolina and elsewhere.

And we affirm that we will
take concrete steps to support those challenging
this enactment by peaceful and legal means, as
way opens.